Trophic links of community food webs.

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Abstract
Regularities in the numbers and kinds of trophic links in community food webs are described and presented. To a 1st approximation, the mean number of trophic links in a community food web is proportional to the total number of trophic species. The mean number of trophic links between any 2 categories of trophic species (basal, intermediate and top) is proportional to the geometric mean number of species in the categories joined. These linear relationships, and scale-invariance in the proportions of basal, intermediate and top species, make it possible to predict with remarkable precision the proportions of each kind of trophic link among all community food webs. The differences between food webs in constant and in fluctuating environments reflect apparently greater constraints on the trophic organization of food webs in fluctuating environments.

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